CHAPTER 8: BEDRIDDEN
[Beginning of the 4th Day]

After training with Annie, Mikasa gets injured and in turn needs to stay in bed. Eren gets worried...


It was a pain. For Eren and the rest of the Special Ops squad, it was waking up around 4:30 in the morning just to patrol the walls.

"Seriously, why 4:30 in the morning? Does patrolling really take that long?" the three men mumbled to themselves which thankfully did not travel through the ears of their stern captain. Petra, with surprisingly sharp hearing, glared at them - a reminder that they should just shut their mouths.

She shifted her eyes towards Eren who was standing right next to his horse.

He tried to hide it but he was worried...and he hated that. Why should he be worried of Mikasa? She was the Mikasa who was obviously stronger than him and capable of taking care of herself. She wasn't that stupid. Though he persuaded himself, his feeling now was closely comparable to how his insides boiled after learning that she was kidnapped by human traffickers five years ago even though he had never met her yet at that time.

Petra placed her hand on his shoulder just before he could climb his horse.

"Still worried about Mikasa?" She said smiling, though it was more of a smile to show concern than happiness.

Eren jerked, embarrassed of how it seemed like his worry for Mikasa was written all over his face that Petra was able to notice, "Ahh...well, kind of..." he scratched his head, "I don't even know if she has returned to the scouting legion's sleeping quarters or not last night..."

"I guess she'd probably returned last night but maybe after we had left," Petra tried to convince him.

"She'd better be there by now...She's such an idiot, putting all that drama for something so foolish! She's just like me when I was younger...running away from home when I got to some sort of argument with my mother..."

Petra did not speak again but acknowledged and listened to every word he said and smiled. She then left Eren and went towards her captain, "You're so kind, heichou" she whispered as she walked pass him, towards her own horse.

Levi spoke to himself, "Tch! I'm not doing this early patrol to shape up Eren and Ackerman's petty love story...Petra" but that was kind of really the reason. He just did not want to reveal it to anyone, to himself though Petra still knew. He was willing to let Eren ditch them and see how Mikasa was doing after they patrol the walls...Levi felt disgusted with the thought but still pushed through to this 'secret plan' of his. It was soooo not him.

As they were all on horseback, whips were heard and it was time to start the patrol.


Three hours have already passed and the patrol was getting even more boring each second. Everybody just can't keep their mouths shut as words started to itch down their throats.

"You know what? Since we were assigned in the Special Ops and keep watch of Eren...all we did were easy and boring jobs. I'd say elites like us, especially me, are worth more difficult and important jobs! Who seconds?" Auruo said while smirking at the rest of his squad mates. He made sure though that the volume of his voice wasn't loud in fear that their captain could hear.

Petra, as usual, hated it when he was the one who began talking. It was registered right into her brain that if Auruo was the one who talked, it was most probably about him saying things like 'I'm Auruo and I'm very awesome!'

"You should just zipper that mouth when you have nothing important to say."

"Oooh...Turning out to be a cold bitch by the day, huh Petra?"

"Oh, just bite your tongue already!" and that was just what happened to Auruo after a few seconds.

They continued going on their horses until they spotted two familiar figures standing above the walls. It was their very own commander Erwin Smith and the garrison's commander, Dot Pixis. They looked like they were talking about something important. Without a second thought, Levi shot his cable on the wall and climb it to join the two's conversation, "Continue patrolling the walls. If you're done, go back to the castle...and clean whatever's goddamn dirty there." he instructed the rest of his squad.

The whole Special Ops looked dumbfounded. They were pretty sure that every corner of the castle is free of dirt. Despite these, they continued their patrol, leaving their captain with the two commanders.

"Tch! See! So much for being elites! Babysitting Eren is one thing...but cleaning that old castle almost everyday...Oh shit! I won't be surprised when we all would end up as freaking housewives in the future!" Auruo remarked, getting irritated. He glanced at Petra and got shocked, "A miracle has happened! Petra isn't opposing the things I say!"

Everybody looked at Auruo, considering him as a dumb person, "Don't you have a brain!? Petra doesn't counter you because it's very obvious that we feel the same way as you too!"

"Sorry everyone! I'm truly sorry! If you don't like to keep watch of me...I'd be more than glad to runaway and..." Eren said while looking away from them.

"And you'll be visiting Ackerman again, ain't that right? YOU. ARE. NOT. GOING. ANYWHERE."


Finally, the long patrol had ended. Everybody returned to the castle, tired as hell. All of them quenched their thirst. Petra headed towards the kitchen to prepare lunch. Eren decided to stay at the courtyard, staring blankly at the blue sky, Mikasa still in his thoughts.

"Where are the others?" Levi had arrived just a few minutes after them. His sudden presence startled Eren.

"Uhmm...Petra-san's cooking lunch and the Auruo-san and the others are most probably resting..." Eren responded while feeling a little bit uneasy.

"And cleaning?" Levi looked at Eren with eyes that seemed to glint red.

"Ahhh-" Eren did not know what to say but he was rescued by the sudden appearance of Petra.

"Eren, I'm done preparing lunc- Oh heichou, you're already here."

"Fine, I'll be discussing while we're eating" Levi marched inside the castle, Eren and Petra follows after a few moments.


They were all peacefully eating their lunch until Levi dropped his spoon and fork on his plate, "Erwin received a mysterious letter inside his office early this morning..."

They all paused, quite nervous.

"Who is the sender, heichou?" Eren stupidly questioned.

Everyone stared at Eren with an eyebrow raised. Eldo face palmed, "Of course the sender is unknown, Eren."

Levi cleared his throat and continued to fill them in, "Erwin lent me the letter. Read it yourselves," he passed it on to Eldo who was sitting right next to him then the cycle went on.

As it was able to reach Eren, he gulped, blinked his eyes several times then began to read.

-WE WILL HAVE EREN-

Eren dropped the piece of paper. He began to sweat but he tried to hide his nervousness.

"Heichou, who might this be?" Petra asked.

Levi went on silence for a moment then responded, "We don't have an idea for now. One thing is certain, we should double our efforts of taking the brat away from danger."

They all paused once again then continued to eat their meal. Eren froze, trying to picture out the many possible people who could have sent that letter. The nervousness though doesn't break him off from thinking about Mikasa...and he hated it again, just like usual.

"Go," Levi said dryly. He totally knew what Eren was thinking about - Mikasa.

"Heichou!" the rest yelled without really noticing.

"Are you sure, heichou?" Eren cannot believe.

"Yes, or would you want me to change my mind?"

Eren gobbled the remaining food on his plate, drank water then stood up from his seat and started prancing away, "Thank you, Levi heichou!"

"...provided that we come. We can't take any chances, Eren," Levi added.

Petra and the rest of the guys chuckled after witnessing Eren's face which showed embarrassment after their captain's remark.


Mikasa was half awake. Her vision was blurry but she knew and she got shocked, there was a "battalion" of people inside her bedroom. Some chitchatting, some staring at her while exchanging whispers...one sitting right next to her bed. The pain surged through her body as she attempted to sit back, though she did not really make a big change from her current position.

"Err...she's a mess"

"Don't you say that, Auruo!"

"What happened to her?"

"She's so beaten up..."

Then Mikasa's eyes widened when a voice screamed, "You're disturbing her!" It was Eren. His scream was like a switch, making Mikasa's blurry vision disappear and which allowed her to discover the people around her. The Special Ops, Jean and the rest of the guys, and the "alliance," excluding the busy Hanji, were all there.

"Why am I-" Mikasa was cut off.

Krista and Sasha began to sob, "We. Are. Sorry, Mikaaaasaaa!"

Ymir stared at Mikasa with guilt written all over her face, "I'm so sorry. I'm the one at most fault here."

"Bow!" Eren demanded from the girls.

Mikasa twitched and glanced at Eren, feeling embarrassed, "Eren! What are you saying?"

"What are you waiting for!? I said bow down to her!"

"Eren!"

Krista, Ymir and Sasha did exactly what Eren instructed them to do and bowed, "SORRY MIKASA!"

Not knowing how to react, Mikasa blushed while pleading for them to raise their heads again, "Ahh...guys...It's okay! I'm sorry too...for overreacting on something like that..."

Krista felt like sunshine was flashed on Mikasa, "Thank you so much...you are so kind!"

Sasha cried even harder, "Because you accepted our apology, you can have half of my lunch for three weeks!"

"EHHH!?" Everybody said together. They can never believe what Sasha just said.

Sasha chuckled, "Of course...that was just a joke! But thank you for forgiving us, Mikasa!"

"Yeah, I knew it. The world would end first before you offer food to somebody else...except maybe if it was Head Instructor Keith Shadis," Eren remarked, sending Sasha chills. After Shadis yelled at her for eating a freshly boiled potato during the so-called "rite of passage" ceremony, she feared the man so much and even considered it a miracle that the head instructor let her off to graduation.

Eren continued to laugh quietly until he noticed that Mikasa was staring at him, as if she was examining him. He paused for a moment, shades of red making its way on his cheeks, "What!?" he wanted to break free of the eye contact.

Levi clicked his tongue and headed towards the door, not wanting to look at corny lovebirds, "Everyone here who are part of the 104th trainees squad, help out with the garrison again. Girls are to join too except for Ackerman since she's injured. Erwin's orders." The rest of the Special Ops followed Levi. They all, the others not knowing themselves, wanted Eren and Mikasa to have some time alone to talk since Eren wanted to do so badly.

As the "alliance" set foot outside the bedroom, they all gave off an "EHEM!" - a teasing method towards Mikasa.

The door to her room shut close. Eren waited for a few minutes then stood up from his chair. He headed towards the door then swiftly opened it only to reveal an empty hallway. He shook his head from left to right, trying to make sure that no one really was around. Having made it clear, he closed the door and shifted his gaze back to Mikasa who was again observing him.

"Tch! Mikasa, what's with that messed up look!?" he said in anger.

"Ohh, you mean these?" Mikasa pointed to some bruises in her arms and also the wound her forehead had obtained which was now covered in a bandage. She was also surprised herself.

"Idiot! What else could it be!?"

"Well...I was thinking you could have implied that in a non-literal way, like it was your own way of asking how I felt emotionally...you know after that...ohh never mind"

"Ohh shit, don't mention that anymore! Those bastards, treating us like we're some toys!"

"Anyway, why was our classmates and the whole Special Ops gathered here earlier...?"

Eren looked straight into her eyes, "I don't know about our classmates but the Special Ops accompanied me here, stating it was "their job." Tch! You see, I wanted to make sure you were okay...You're so stupid! I did not know you would actually get all emo just because those stupid women were playing jokes on you...no, I mean us! What the hell! You're just like some sulking child who recently got bullied!"

Mikasa's heart was raising and her cheeks were getting all flushed. Eren seemed like...he truly cared about her...That thought was completely written all over her face. She refused to say a single word and instead just stared at her companion.

Eren knew what she was thinking...and it was true, "Of course I cared, dumbass! Where the hell where you yesterday? You were not here when I went and knocked on your room last night. How the hell did you get those wounds!?"

She searched through her thoughts on yesterday's happenings. She finally remembered. Rustling leaves, chirping birds, tree being beaten, meeting and training with Annie...which got sort of harsh.

"I went to the forest and ended up training with Annie for the whole afternoon..." she gazed blankly at her bruises then noticed Eren clutching his fist, "Eren...these wounds are nothing...I was the one who suggested that we train together," she assured him.

"Don't freaking tell me that you were training! She freakin' beat you Mikasa!" He yelled at Mikasa, causing her to twitch.

"She did not! We were just training. That's all."

"Stop defending her! Why are you even defending her? Anyway, I can't imagine you getting beaten by Annie. You know, you were the valedictorian of our batch...she's just the fourth in the ranking...!"

"There can be flaws in people's talents and abilities, I guess."

"Tch! She'll pay for this!"

Mikasa giggled then after realizing, put it to a halt, "Don't! By the way, what can you even do to let her pay, huh Eren? she was teasing him.

"I'll...I'll...Oh forget it! You're at fault her too anyway. If you hadn't suggested training together with her, you won't be having all those disgusting bruises on your body"

"Okay...I'm sorry even though I know I have not done anything wrong," she giggled, "Having bruises and wounds are part of our job so I think it's okay to have these from time to time."

"Are you dumb? If you would like to scar your beautiful skin, be my guest..." realizing what he just said, he turned his blushing face away from Mikasa. "Why'd the word 'beautiful' have to pop out!?" he thought to himself.

Mikasa looked away as well. Her heart was pounding hard again. She was thinking to herself until Eren spoke again.

"Ahh...I'll get you something to eat. It seems you skipped dinner last night and breakfast this morning. Just wait here, for maybe thirty minutes..."

"Thirty minutes?"

"Yeah" then he walked out of the room, leaving a confused Mikasa.

"Why thirty minutes? I think that's too long..." she muttered to herself.


Mikasa regained her sitting position on her bed. She finally heard a knock and got relieved after it was revealed that it was Eren who was now bringing a tray with a bowl of hot soup and bread.

"Here Mikasa...Eat" he said as he sat down on a chair beside her bed.

Mikasa stared at the soup. It looked so...unappetizing. She remembered the consequence given to her by the "alliance" and put it into action. "Not eating the soup Eren prepared" can be a way of "not showing any concern to him" in Mikasa's perspective.

"I refuse to eat that!" she yelled. "Are you eager to kill me!?"

"Huh!? What are you saying!?"

"I said I won't eat that! It looks...ack..."

"You have crossed the line! I prepared this for half an hour and you won't eat it!? I'll shove this down your throat if I have to, Mikasa! This was mom's specialty soup!"

"NOOOO! If it was your mother's cooking, it would taste like heaven...but if it's yours...I doubt I could still see the sunrise of tomorrow once I ate that!"

"Tch! Eat it already! I went through hardships, you know."

"NOOOO! I won't rush to my death, Eren!"

He grabbed the spoon and scooped some soup, blew on it then shot it right in Mikasa's mouth. The both of them got so flustered that instant.

As the soup traveled through her mouth, she got too surprised. It actually tasted good.

"It's nothing like your mother's cooking...but it tastes good," she wore a smile.

Eren made a victorious laugh, "See! You wouldn't know if you won't try!"

He attempted to feed her again but she refused, "I-I'll feed myself..." she grabbed the bowl and the spoon from his hands.

"Pffft! You're embarrassed, aren't you?"

"O-O-Of course I am! Aren't you?"

"Don't mind me. Just continue eating."

"Thank you...Eren"

"Nahh, It's nothing really."

Because of her unfathomable hunger, she was able to finish both the soup and the bread in the nick of time. Eren was still there, sitting right next to her bed. A knock was heard then next, a voice.

"Eren, it's time to head back to the castle," Auruo informed.

"Okay. I'll join you shortly."

"Better do. Anyway, we'll be waiting outside the building."

"Yeah yeah"

Eren took the bowl and the spoon away from her hands, "I'll be bringing this back to the kitchen before I leave. Get some rest."

Mikasa nodded, "Okay, thanks again"

Without giving a second thought, Eren leaned closer to Mikasa then without any signs, kissed her forehead, catching them both in surprise.

Mikasa placed her hand on her forehead, "Eren...why did you ki-?"

"Ahh...well...uhmm...you do that all the time...when we were still kids...you know, when I'm bedridden."

"Ohh..."

"Okay Okay! I'll...be going ahead..."

"Okay..."

Both their hearts were pounding so hard after that. Their faces could have burned because of the intensity of their blushes.


Author's notes:

Hi guys! How is this chapter? Hope you liked it. Eren feeding Mikasa...kissing her forehead, LOL

Thanks for reading this chapter!

Hope you continue reading the upcoming chaps! :DDD